What are everyone's feelings on this? I thought James Franco was going to be coming out with a Jeff Buckley biopic, now Badgley and Pattinson working on Jeff Buckley projects? I am not excited about any of them to be honest. Jeff was one of a kind.

Quote:

Penn Badgley Set to Play Jeff Buckley in 'Greetings from Tim Buckley'

His star has been rising lately with praiseworthy turns in Easy A and a supporting role in the ensemble financial drama Margin Call (which we enjoyed quite a bit at Sundance in January), but now Penn Badgley (right) has snagged a role that should really allow him to show his talent. Smuggler Films has announced the actor will play musician Jeff Buckley, son of iconic musician Tim Buckley in Greetings from Tim Buckley. Dan Algrant (People I Know) will direct the film telling the true story of the days leading up to Jeff Buckley’s eminent 1991 performance at his father’s tribute concert in St. Ann’s Church.

Through a romance with a young woman working at the concert, the younger Buckley comes to understand the father who abandoned him. The musician's cathartic performance of his father’s most famous songs, results in a stunning performance which launches his career as one of the greatest young musicians of his time. Badgley is excited about the prospect of playing such an iconic musician saying, "To play a man who was singularly gifted as an artist, greatly misunderstood and mythologized as a human being. It’s something very special and sacred. I’m going to give all I can to this project.”

Of course, another big star of the film will be the music from the two musicians. While another gestating film from Jake Scott (director of Welcome to the Rileys and son of Ridley Scott) has been said to secure much of the music rights for their film looking at Buckley's life and career, producers say they have plenty of music to make their film rich with Buckley's signature tunes. 24 Frames says rights have been secured for many of Tim Buckley's songs as well as Jeff Buckley's cover of Hallelujah, one of his most iconic songs. The question is whether or not Badgley can do his own singing. Word on the street is that Robert Pattinson might be up to play Jeff Buckley in Scott's biopic, and believe or not the guy can actually sing. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it goes.

There. I knew someone would get on with this before Mary Guibert.. such a complicated woman, by trying to preserve the legacy of her son, she's just making things a little worse imo.. the project with James Franco could've gone so well.. and it's probably going well (on baby steps) but now it's going to be the 'second' movie about Jeff. Bravo, Mary.

I don't consider Penn or Robert to be good actors, and Robert looks nothing like Jeff so Penn is definitely a better decision.. zero sophistication or depth but who knows, he might as well do a decent performance. I have a feeling this will turn out to be something like The Factory.. where all these names and roles made so much buzz and at the end it was such a horrible and insignificant parody of a decade.

Still have my hopes up for James Franco in the original biopic.. crossing fingers they don't take another 3 years because James isn't getting any younger, he's already 3 years older than Jeff was.. when he died.